If the name of that tool sounds familiar to you, that’s because you may has already heard it and may well have already used the feature. Dynamic Arrays for Excel were first announced and introduced last year. However, since then the feature has only been available to a limited number of Office users. In a recent blog post, Microsoft says improving formula management is important. The company says formulas in Excel has been a limitation on the app because a formula can only output data to a single cell. Dynamic Arrays change that, allowing formulas to output values across cells as a list: “Using dynamic arrays, any formula that returns an array of values will seamlessly “spill” into neighboring unoccupied cells, making it as easy to get an array of values returned as it is to work on a single cell. You can immediately harness the power of dynamic arrays by using one of the new FILTER, UNIQUE, SORT, SORTBY, SEQUENCE, SINGLE, and RANDARRAY functions to build spreadsheets that would previously have been nearly impossible.”
Office Insiders on Windows can start using Dynamic Arrays now, while the tool on macOS can also access the feature on the Insider.
Recent Excel Improvements
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced Excel has received expanded stock capabilities by partnering with NASDAQ and Refinitiv. In a blog post, Microsoft says users of Excel can now view up-to-date stock information across major U.S. exchanges in Nasdaq and stocks data from Refinitiv. The latter is a leading provider of financial markets data. “Anyone with an interest in financial information needs quick, reliable data to navigate today’s complex and fast-moving global markets,” said Brennan Carley, Global Head of Enterprise at Refinitiv. “Refinitiv has many years’ experience in delivering data to financial professionals within Microsoft Excel and we are now delighted to give everyday investors access to these capabilities via our partnership with Microsoft.”
